


Live a little, you won't regret it

by twistedluminarystudent



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 09:20:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18363113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedluminarystudent/pseuds/twistedluminarystudent
Summary: Her name is Pacifica Northwest and she has always mattered in life.au in which nothing weird happens, teenagers are teenagers, and pacifica's angsty.





	1. Chapter 1

Her name is Pacifica Northwest and she has always mattered in life.

From the first moment of her birth, she can envision being delicately handled by a multitude of doctors and specialized workers in the medical industry who she imagines to have cost more than a thousand times the annual salary of a town commoner. Her mother would have cried, shedding delicate beads of plastic joy at the sight of the baby who would be the one to continue the family line for the rest of existence. Her father would have been smiling, the skin of the corners of his mouth stretching upwards perfectly in a well-practiced move, holding her mother's hand out of obligation as the happy, lucky family poses for the camera. The newspaper would have reported her birth, her name scrawled out at the heading on the front page, and she would have been the most important child in the town before even being able to speak her first word.

Pacifica always has, and always will be, undeniably significant compared to every other individual in her peer group.

She grows up in fancy dresses, piano classes, traditional etiquette and ballroom dances. Polished to look and act the perfect child. The perfect heir. Locks of blonde hair and perfectly manicured nails, stilettos and several layers of makeup.

Rich girls get what they want, her mother had said once, when Pacifica wasn't under heavy scrutiny and criticism, sharp words and prickly glares. Pacifica had stared as her mother had laughed and stated her identity for the sake of not having to wait hours in a line of commoners at a mall. They are allowed to cut through. Everyone stares and whispers and Pacifica ultimately decides to mimic her mother and smiles, repulsion and judgement being mirrored in both mother and daughter.

Her father had once fired a cook. The story has found a special place in Pacifica's memory to burn itself into. A usual afternoon, the occasional click of cutlery threading through light-hearted conversation until Preston Northwest personally calls upon the butler. The cook is requested and Pacifica has to watch in wide-eyed fear as an old man breaks down in tears across the room and is banished from the household for adding a pinch of pepper more than what was deemed acceptable. Refusing to accept the moral injustice of the event, Pacifica had spoken up, tiny voice shaking with trepidation until her father had reached over and _rung a bell_.

The sharp duo of clinks reverberates around her head endlessly for years to come.

It doesn't matter, she eventually decides. A sort of apathy. Moral acceptance for her fate. This is what it means to be a Northwest.

The money makes it worth it, she thinks, observing lackluster housing and obscene means of entertainment in practically anywhere that isn't The Northwest Mansion. At least she's _rich,_ and popular, too, as a nice side effect.

She has friends, well, people she hang out with who would forever stay by her side, eyes hazy with admiration and worship, even if they aren't always around. Actually, that's an overestimation. Most of the people she's acquainted with usually leave after only a handful of weeks or months, their families eventually getting tired of small-town affairs and the lack of activity.

Unfortunately, Pacifica herself is stuck here, at Gravity Falls, for the rest of her well-planned out life.

She discovers her sexuality later on, a month after becoming enamored with a show that represented LGBTQ+ themes and finally understanding her disparate view of romance, and seethes about the unfairness of it all a little more. There's still nothing to be done, nothing that can be done and she finds herself staring at the ceiling of her pristine, jewel-encrusted room (imaginary jewels, it's a metaphor, folks) until the beginnings of sunrise stream through the window and she's _still_ racking her mind on this particular dilemma. Her temporary insomnia lasts a week before she gives up completely and decides to throw up the metaphorical middle finger to her parents, herself, this town, and life itself.

 _Fuck everything,_ she thinks, mentally admonishing herself for her own swearing because even in her own mind, perfection strives to maintain itself.

She'll follow her parents bidding, get married off to some man she could care less about, and the world would continue its rotational orbiting of the sun uneventfully. Nothing would change. Not really.

She's just tired, honestly. She's learned to go with the flow. Staying indifferent and acting was _her_ game, after all.

This can't be healthy, and she might change her mind when she's an adult but right now, her teenage self just doesn't want to handle it.

She doesn't want to see the look on her family's face at the revelation.

It's fine. A part of her finds solace in the fact that she wouldn't exactly have a great opportunity in the dating column anyway even if it  _was_ with other girls.

She's Pacifica Northwest, resident Ice Queen. Why would anyone want her in the way she'd want them to?

It's a rhetorical question.

It's summer when newcomers arrive in town; Dipper and Mabel Pines.

They're twins, and commoners, and Pacifica couldn't care less, but its still been a while since she's spotted new faces.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: i have no idea what rich stereotypical teenagers do in their free time so anyone'd be appreciated if they point out any errors in my interpretation. no seriously what do people do

 

_Em: hey wanna hang at the mall im out in like a hour_

_P: yea sure ill pick u up._

_Em: aw yea time to get our game on ;)  
_

_..._

_P: course hun_

A normal day.

~

"Hey Pacifica, check it."

"He's cute, hon, but personally, you could do better."

Emmeline turns and flashes a leveled glare at her which is responded with a raise of a single eyebrow. Pacifica's stomach grumbles and she realizes with no small amount of annoyance that they would have gotten some lunch by now if Emmeline stopped to fucking breathe after each flirting session.

Instead, they're standing in the middle of a running escalator and Pacifica's debating how acceptable it would be if she yanks her associate down and slips away when the cops arrive.

The intended target raises his head, dark eyebrows furrowing together in confusion before realizing that he was the subject of their conversation. He's also right in front of Pacifica, next to Emmeline who most likely had planned this all along.

His eyes widen to a deer-in-headlights expression.

Emmeline takes notice and laughs, and Pacifica's insides crawl as fake amusement rings through her ears. She smirks back, the innocence on her face almost as visibly insincere as the laughter of her acquaintance.

They make a good pair.

"Oh of course, he's not exactly in our league, is he?" Emmeline says, predatory smile plastered on her over-customized face, high-pitched voice full of mockery and it occurs to Pacifica that someone's in a bad mood today.

The guy leaves, back of his neck aflame and Pacifica is allowed to feel an inkling of sympathy as they watch him awkwardly shuffle his feet into a mop bucket. It doesn't fall but wavers and tumbles in its place noisily for several moments. His neck burns brighter, and his shoulders fall into himself. The locals watch him uncertainly and a brunette steps up to pat him reassuringly on the shoulder.

"What a loser," comments Emmeline and Pacifica hums in indifference and cautiously motions to the snack bar.

"Let's get some food," she nudges, her stomach grumbling in agreement.

Emmeline scoffs, and Pacifica is reminded of how often she herself used to make the very same noise and hates herself for a moment there.

"Gross", Emmeline points out and Pacifica glares at her icily.

She halts, her mouth halfway open, and her eyes dart away. Pacifica's ears thrum with irritation that doesn't bother to dissipate when insecurity blooms in the way Emmeline's arm rises up to hug the waist of hundred dollars worth crimson fabric.

"Fine, I guess I'm hungry anyways," she murmers, after a split-second of silence.

Pacifica rolls her eyes and is soon making her way to the counter. She hasn't actually ordered anything from here before, never really needing to. This time, the wafting smell of greasy food compels more than usual and she wishes she ate more breakfast. Naturally, there's a line.

She decides to wait. She absolutely does not want to bring attention to herself in this particular place.

"What are you doing?"

Ah. Pacifica had though it to be impossible but apparently Emmeline _can_ shut up for long enough to be forgotten.

On the other hand, she has no idea how to explain herself.

Not that she needs to, she realizes with frustration as Emmeline grabs her arm impatiently and under normal circumstances, she would have snatched it back furiously, but Emmeline's nails are digging into her skin too deep to be casual (that's sure to leave marks) and she thinks about the display of hurt after their disagreement earlier. Guilt pools into her stomach immediately, phantom taste of bitterness splaying itself on her tongue like the black coffee her father takes in the morning and a charade of 'you're a bad person' starts to play in her head because this is the perfect fucking time to be throwing a pity party.

The guy behind the counter stares as Emmeline tosses her hand up and loudly declares their value in society like it's the only thing that matters and honestly, maybe it is. It is, Pacifica decides then and there as she looks back icily and smiles at the contemptuous glares pointed at them.

"Pacifica Northwest," she replies, voice sickeningly sweet to her ears, at the doubtful question of her identity.

She ultimately decides on a taco, having chosen the first thing on the list of food that has never touched her mouth ever since she was born.

It was surprisingly good.

~

"Hey, hold up!!"

The voice is unfamiliar. Emmeline's already left, murmuring out some excuse about her family having to visit a relative out of town before hauling herself into a cab and waving goodbye. Pacifica sticks around, deciding to fiddle around with her social media page for a while before going back to her house. She's interrupted.

She turns, face sliding into an expression that reveals nothing over the confusion in catching sight of a girl around her age barreling towards her.

Just as she's about to move, lest she gets crushed, the girl stops, almost impressively reaching to a complete halt as if her shoes had brakes on them.

Brightly colored sweater, slightly crooked teeth, and a smile that nearly takes up her whole face. To top it all of, slapped onto the sweater is a circled sticker quoting some over-encouraging message that Pacifica just doesn't have the energy to fully process. Pacifica has never seen nor interacted with this person before. A local?

"...I wasn't going anywhere," she speaks up after a moment, while the girl catches her breath, pointing out the odd choice of wording in the previous demand.

Why is she here?

"Oh yeah, heh, never mind about that!" She huffs out, her brown hair ruffling up in waves as her hands move around emphatically.

"What do you want?"

"Woah, that's a little rude, don'tcha think?" The girl asks, raising her hands defensively, "You didn't even ask for my name!"

"..."

"Mabel Pines at your service, ma'am!" An enthusiastic salute follows up this introduction.

"What do you want?" Pacifica asks again, eyeing her.

"And I already know who you are, of course!"

"And yet, you're still here." She drawls disinterestedly, "the exit's the other way, hon."

"What? No! You've got the wrong idea!"

"What." She turns, and gives her a pointed glare.

The girl, Mabel Pines, squirms uncomfortably for one victorious moment before smiling widely, face set in determination and blurting out,

"I'm here to become your friend!"

 

It's not every day Pacifica gets asked to be a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if anyone's wondering why mabel just approached the most popular girl in town and asked for her friendship, it's because a) Dipper dared her to do it due to an argument on mabel's charismatic ability and b) pacifica was cute duh


End file.
